Conducting job interviews...
How do you conduct job interviews and what changes will you make as a result of this module?
Job interviews are conducted on a structured basis at the present time. However, recently due to an expedited need for instructors, the process has been temporarily modified. Presently, a telephone interview is conducted. At the conclusion of a successful telephone interview, a formal interview is scheduled. At the formal interview, I (the interviewer) accept the applicant's resume, ask some key questions, answer some key questions, provide the applicant with our application and supplement sheets, and provide the applicant with a tour of our facilities. As a result of this module, I realized I am taking up too much time during the interview process. Therefore, I have devised a list of key questions (instead of just shooting from the hip) for the interview process, intend to obtain the completed application forms prior to the interview, and intend to offer the tour after an applicant has been selected.
You might consider developing a worksheet with your questions and the applicants names so you
can make notes about or rate their responses when you initially talk to them.
Since much of your initial communication is done by email you might consider writing a reusable email that you fill in a confirmation of the interview time, gives directions to the campus, etc. or that thanks the applicant if you decide not to hire them.
I think that is a great idea. I intend to develop these documents and present them to my management team next week.
Hi Jamie
I'm glad these suggestions helped. Hopefully they will make your hiring process a little easier.
I will apply all that I have learned from this module. I will definitely avoid asking those questions that are deemed intrusive and illegal; bracket person perceptions that might interfere during a face-to-face interview; follow all the advice in the "Structured-interview" section, and let the applicant do most of the talking.
I have worked in curriculum development and teacher education in large universities and colleges; I have been through the interviewing process as an applicant but never has the one doing the hiring . . . this is all new (having to hire instructors) and as a neophyte, I am going to take all the information from this course as gospel until I learn otherwise.
Thanks for your comments, Alessandra. Have you been able to develop a list of interview questions? What do you consider the most important question?
I have been interviewing based upon individual interaction with each applicant. In the future I will develop a list of questions in advance.
Hi Gerard
I'm going to ask you the same question I asked Alessandra. Which questions are most important to you?
We have a variety of experience in the class and your insight would be useful.
1. Describe how your work and education experience has prepared you to become an effective educator.
2. Describe your view of the non-traditional student.
3. What techniques might one have to employ in a non-traditional education setting that would be different from a traditional classroom setting?
4. Explain what you know about learning styles and which learning style is most effective?
I have been an educator for over twenty years and my on-the-job education along with my formal education (in psychology & eduation, BA; literacy education, MS, and a PH.D. in curriculum development and teacher education, educational leadership)provided me with knowledge and skills necessary to working in K-graduate school; I have worked in K -graduate school settings. I have utilized my organic knowledge of teaching and learning coupled with my academic knowledge, to create nurturing learning environments for each group of students.
I find the non-traditional students most facinating. They bring knowledge and experiences not available to traditional (younger) students. They have what is know as "foreground", concrete evidence of abstract concepts, on which to add new information. I worked as a Faculty/Mentor at Empire State College where all our students were non-traditional students. Part of my responsibility was to evaluate work-related expereinces and assign college credits, in education, to various students. Many of my students had knowledge and skills, garnered from their experiences, that were equivalent to varying levels of college courses.
Life-arts projects comes to mind. These are projects that marry students classroom learning with life experiences. These are mini theses if you will, that allow each student to demonstrate how they scaffold the new information unto prior knowledge and translate the whole into applicable actions into their everday lives for work or other forms of activities.
I am apt. to follow Howard Gardner's forms of intellenges. I am a visual/kinesthetic processor; I have to see it and I must take notes in order to make sense of the information, and in order to enter the information into my long term memory. I have always provided my students with the opportunities to use multi-input pathways in order to foster learning. Visual aide; co-operative learning that allows verbalization for the autitory learners; the creation of collages; the creation of poems or songs,; role playing etc., are some of the activities that I have employed in the classrooms in which I have worked over the years. I cannot say that any one learning syle is more effective than the other. Most students are forced to rely on memorization which is derived from visual learning, but research findings do not favor such an approach. There are no findings, of which I am aware, that would force students to comply with one form of information processing as the optimum leaning style.
The format we use at our college is similar to the one presented in this module. I have started to conduct a phone interview (a new process) and based on the information I gain from that connection I make a decision whether or not to bring the individual in for an in-person interview. At this time, our process continues with the interview and again, based on the results of that, a decision is made whether to ask the applicant to return for a teaching demonstration. I have recently made a case to combine the in-person interview and teaching demonstration into one process. I gained support for this process by stating that we would be able to obtain a more complete picture of each applicant at one time rather than the piece-meal approach. What I will change as a result of this module is to develop a RJP. We do not have such a document and I can certainly see the value in letting prospective teahers know about the realities of teaching in a career college. This is most important especially when hiring instructors who do not have teaching experience but who have the potential.
Thanks Maureen. You really do (in both a positive and realistic manner) need to manage potential instructor's expectations. It is never as easy as it looks, but it can be very rewarding.
As for the interview process, you have to determine what works for you. If the multi-
step approach doesn't work--don't use it.
Especially when dealing with busy professionals
or referrals (as you mentioned previously) maybe
the proof of interest is already known if they come prepared for a teaching demo.
Interviews at my school are conducted in traditional form. Potential instructors may be asked to do a mock class so we can sample their teaching skills, as this course suggested. Changes for the future are perhaps a more structured/standardized interview question list. Currently, interviewers ask questions at will, and not on a script. I see value in a script, as it were.
These suggestions are great. For me this has been the most helpful part of this course. We already implement most of the other modules. I have hired a few people and do not have a structured way of conducting the interview. I find that I do most of the talking and it is mostly positve about the college and I spead way to much time before I have gathered the applictions & other forms. I plan on using these ideas and creating a more formal structure.
Thanks Kim. Another good thing about structured interviews is that you use time effectively. While there are points you need to make, there is also information you need to receive.
As with most things, in time, it will be second nature.
Job interviews are done without consistency. Some are group interviews. Others are individual. Focus on asking questions rather than providing information about the job will be incorporated.
Laughing, I'm a perfect example of why everyone should use a structured interview. In the future I will always spend an appropriate amount of time preplanning the interviews I'm going to give. I will be doing some more investigation on top of the example in the course of good structured interview questions. Also the consistency this provides will be huge.
Jeff
Well, Jeff, I'm glad this can be both informative and entertaining.
Developing interview questions saves time, gets necessary information and is a better practice legally. It removes even the impression of differential treatment. Of course, don't include questions you shouldn't.
Thanks for your response.
Currently, our hiring process closely follows the pattern discussed in this section. Applicants are directed to submit a resume for available teaching positions. From the group of resumes, a very abbreviated phone interview is conducted mainly for the purpose of clarification of experience/education and to set a time for a face to face interview. When applicants arrive on-site, they are asked to fill out an application before the interview. Once the interview has been completed, worthy candidates are asked to conduct a short 10-minute "mock teaching" presentation. We ask both staff and faculty members to sit in on the "mock" and to provide feedback. Finally, the best suited candidate is offered the position by the hiring manager.
Although our process is sound, the interviewing skills of hiring managers can be weak. I would like to see our current process better define a structured interview based on the KSAOs discussed in the earlier sections. If we can better define what is important to us as a college, we will do a better job of pulling that information out of potential candidates. I like the idea of developing a handful of questions that can help candidates demonstrate those KSAOs we are looking for.
Not all hiring managers are good interviewers! It's been my experience that good interviewing skills develop over time. If new hiring managers were given a set of proven questions to use during a structured interview, perhaps the pains of trial and error would not be as great for everyone involved (including the students)!
